AEP to refund about 43 cents to some

Wednesday

The refund you are about to receive from American Electric Power is less than the cost of a first-class postage stamp.

The refund you are about to receive from American Electric Power is less than the cost of a first-class postage stamp.

A typical central Ohio household will receive 43 cents next month because of an order from regulators who found that the utility had posted “significantly excessive” earnings in 2010.

The amount of the refund will be deducted from November electricity bills, the company disclosed on Monday.

Last week, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio found that AEP’s Columbus Southern Power subsidiary had to return $6.9 million to customers.

For a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours, the refund is 43 cents.

It will show up on your bill in two places. First, the “phase in recovery rider,” will be zero, down from what would have been a charge of 7 cents. Second, there will be a “SEET credit rider,” which is a credit of 36 cents.

The refund will appear only in November bills, and only in Columbus Southern territory, which includes parts of central and southern Ohio. AEP’s other local operating company, Ohio Power, did not receive a penalty, so its customers will not get a refund.

Consumer advocates had argued that AEP should pay a much larger penalty after Columbus Southern reported a profit of $234 million in 2010. AEP officials said they should not have to pay any penalty because its Ohio operations as a whole had a much more modest profit.

The result, which was much closer to AEP’s wishes than those of other parties in the case, was “ not completely unexpected,” said Dave Rinebolt, executive director of Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, one of the consumer groups.